Instead, they capture inexhaustible sources of energy - sunlight andВ wind.Д«ut to be considered truly sustainable, these industries need to restructure themselves in ways that allow their products to be recycled at the end of their lives. Renewable energy and energy-storage systems donвЂ™t burn an irreplaceable resource and cause irreparable harm to the climate and environment in the process. ItвЂ™s important to point out that thereвЂ™s aВ categorical difference between the raw materials of the clean energy economy and those of the fossil-fueled economy. So what can we do today to avoid generating these gargantuan volumes of waste in the future? Experts say the only solution is an aggressive and coordinated effort to set government regulations and establish private-sector investments that enable the recycling of clean energy technologies at massive scale. And the volume of wind turbine blades reaching end of life could hit 12 billion metric tons by 2050, according to a 2020 study in the Journal of Sustainable Metallurgy. Likewise, the roughly 600, 000 metric tons of lithium-ion battery waste expected from the first generation of EVs by 2025 is set to grow to 11 million metric tons worldwide by 2030, according to the World Economic Forum. The worldwide total of PV waste could increase nearly tenfold by 2050, to 78 million metric tons, according to the International Energy Agency. National Renewable Energy LaboratoryвЂ™s circular-economy strategic initiative for advanced energy materials technology - and across the globe, the figure will be about 8В million metric tons aВ year. is expected to be decommissioning about 1В million metric tons of solar panels per year, said Maria Curry-Nkansah, head of the U.S. Now is the time to ramp up recycling capacity so that it matches the growth of clean technologies that will occur over the next few decades.Д«y 2030, the U.S. Today, the volume of panels, turbine blades and batteries nearing the end of their lives is relatively low. It could also mean missing out on an accessible source of critical raw materials like lithium and cobalt, which are costly to mine and often produced in environmentally and socially harmful ways. If itвЂ™s not reused and recycled, this waste could wreak havoc on ecosystems and communities. But thereвЂ™s another pressing priority that canвЂ™t be overlooked: AВ lot of the equipment that will make this crucial transition possible - and the valuable materials used to make it - could end up in landfills. Making all of this happen should be the first priority of anyone who cares about the fate of life on earth.

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